Cape Town company to make SA-designed oxygen delivery devices for Covid patients

Reiner Gabler, managing director of Gabler Medical, which will manufacture and distribute the OxERA (Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid). | Picture: Supplied

Reiner Gabler, managing director of Gabler Medical, which will manufacture and distribute the OxERA (Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid). | Picture: Supplied

Published Jan 17, 2021

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A Cape Town medical manufacturer is set to mass produce a brand-new oxygen delivery device to assist South Africa’s struggling health sector.

Gabler Medical, based in Thornton, will manufacture and distribute the Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid (OxERA), a new low-cost and portable device that assists Covid-19 patients. The device was created by a team of volunteers in East London.

Reiner Gabler, managing director of Gabler Medical, said there had historically been little support for the sector in South Africa, but this could change with the Covid-19 pandemic. “The supply shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted the need for a stronger local manufacturing industry,” Gabler said. “With the local development and manufacturing of devices like the OxERA we are proving it can be done in South Africa.”

Established in 1963 in the Mother City, Gabler Medical operates two plants, one manufacturing oxygen and suction therapy equipment and the other manufacturing surgical sutures, and has over 100 employees.

Reiner Gabler, managing director of Gabler Medical, which will manufacture and distribute the OxERA (Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid). | Picture: Supplied

The company is set to produce 15 000 OxERA devices a week with a potential to export them to interested countries and grow local employment opportunities. Clinical trials with the device are also being arranged at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg.

“Production capacity is not a limiting factor,” Gabler said. “We hope it will inspire other designers and SA medical device companies to focus on locally designed and manufactured medical devices.”

Production of the OxERA has started after the device received approval by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for emergency Covid-19 use.

This comes as South Africa’s demand for medical oxygen has ballooned due to the second wave of the pandemic, with suppliers reporting exponential increases in orders and a possible shortage of storage cylinders.

The non-invasive device operates using an anaesthetic mask with an oxygen feed from a ward connection source, bottle or oxygen concentrator, and an adjustable mechanical positive end respiratory pressure (PEEP) valve which provides positive pressure to ensure the patient’s lungs do not collapse and makes it easier to breathe. The device also uses a viral filter which helps to protect health care workers.

The Oxygen-Efficient Respiratory Aid (OxERA) is a low-cost portable device designed to assist health care workers to provide oxygen to Covid-19 patients. | Picture: Supplied

The OxERA is the brainchild of the Umoya Project, an East London volunteer team of doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs that was started in March 2020 to come up with respiratory solutions during the Covid-19 crisis.

Project manager and retired civil engineer Trevor Rossouw said: “It’s been a seven-day week effort for the past ten months by a core team of eight engineers and doctors in South Africa. Everything has been done via WhatsApp, emails, and Zoom conference calls. A number of the team have never met each other in person.”

For trial purposes, Umoya distributed devices, for doctors’ evaluation, to hospitals and general practitioners in South Africa, Zimbabwe, DRC and the Central African Republic, which led to positive feedback for the team.

“The most rewarding part of the experience has been the feedback from doctors who have used the OxERA and kindly sent us messages and testimonials of lives saved by them using it on Covid-19 patients,” Rossouw said. “It’s quite humbling and for me, it’s been quite emotional getting this feedback and knowing I’ve been a part of a team that has helped develop, design, and manufacture a device that is helping clinicians save lives.”

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